MPs’ salary of £67,000 is not enough for the standard of living I’m ENTITLED to, says Tory Sir Malcolm Rifkind as he defends his second jobs after ‘cash for access’ sting
‘A fresh row erupted over MPs’ pay today as a senior Tory caught in a ‘cash for access’ scandal said he sought extra business deals on top of his £67,000 salary to secure the standard of living he is ‘entitled’ to enjoy.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who chairs the Intelligence and Security Select Committee, has been suspended from the Conservative party after bragging that he could see any foreign ambassador in London and has ‘useful access’ to every British ambassador in the world.
But in a series of disastrous media interviews, he claimed today that it was ‘quite unrealistic’ to expect backbench MPs with professional backgrounds to ‘simply accept a salary of £60,000′.
Sir Malcolm and former Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw were secretly filmed discussing how they could use their contacts to benefit a private company and both boasted about charging at least £5,000-a-day. Mr Straw has also been suspended by the Labour party over the ‘disturbing’ allegations.’
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